Historical background on the Liquid Detergent Capsules PSP

PSP-2012

In 2012, A.I.S.E. launched the voluntary Liquid Laundry Detergent Capsules (LLDC) Product Stewardship Programme (PSP) with the aim to help significantly reduce incidents involving such products. Furthermore, in 2014, a dedicated preventive communication campaign (www.keepcapsfromkids.eu) was developed. Also in 2014, a research study was conducted by A.I.S.E. jointly with several European PCCs to better understand accident circumstances and root causes, which confirmed the relevance of the PSP measures. Over the years following the implementation of the PSP, a significant decrease in the incidents frequency relative to the product market size was indeed observed (between 35% and 70% in the monitored countries).

The PSP-2012 was signed by 6 companies: Henkel, McBride, Persan, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever.

PSP-2012 description - now closed for signature

CLP Regulation (2014)

On 6 December 2014, the European Commission published an amendment to the CLP Regulation (Regulation (EU) N° 1297/2014, the "Soluble Packaging Regulation") to include specific provisions for LLDC classified as hazardous under CLP. De facto this made the 2012-PSP product and packaging commitments mandatory, and introduced several additional requirements. This came into force on 1 June 2015.

PSP-2015

Also in 2015, the PSP was extended to all Liquid Detergent Capsules, including LDC that are not covered by the amended CLP Regulation. Communication requirements were maintained for the entire LDC product category (whether regulated under the CLP Soluble Packaging Regulation or not).  All 2012-PSP signatories reconfirmed their commitment to the extended 2015-PSP.

The PSP-2015 was signed by the same 6 companies who had previously signed up to PSP-2012: Henkel, McBride, Persan, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever.

PSP-2015 description - now closed for signature

PSP-2017

In 2017, to sustain the downward trend of the incident rates with hazardous LLDC (which had started to slow down or even flatten), two additional commitments were introduced for this product category. This included (1) a requirement for superior child impeding closures, going beyond the CLP design criteria and introducing a performance test; and (2) an advertising code of conduct. These requirements were made available on a voluntary basis to the PSP signatories, and thus, only applied to those companies who chose to sign the 2017 extension. This was not positioned as a mandatory ‘review of the project’, because at the time the practical feasibility across all companies had yet to be demonstrated. Note however that to date, all PSP signatories except one have signed up to the 2017 commitments.

The PSP-2017 was signed by 6 companies: Henkel, McBride, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt-Benckiser, SmellWell, Unilever.

PSP-2017 description - now closed for signature

2019 Amendment 

Finally, in 2019 the design of the safe use patch for hazardous LLDC was amended, based on consumer research about the effectiveness of different pictorials. This update was a ‘review of the project’ and thus these changes do apply to all existing and new PSP signatories.

PSP-2019 amendment

2020 Consolidation

To ensure better clarity of the requirements as well as consistency of the commitments across all signatories, a consolidated version of the PSP was developed and rolled out in March 2020. This version replaces all previous versions of the PSP.

Link to PSP-2020 description